Mine Disaster-Kimberley, BC Canada

I am in absolute shock right now. I got to work this morning and was blown away by what I read in my daily news paper. A mine disaster in my local town killed 4 people. For those of you who know me, I say I am from Cranbrook, BC. However, actually I am from Wycliffe, I rural community between two towns. Cranbrook, the major center of 30K and Kimberley, and mining and tourism community of 5k people. I played hockey and went to school in Cranbrook, so my allegiance lies there but my family is defiantly part of Kimberley. My mom is a bank manager at one of the banks, my aunt is a nurse at the local doctors clinic, and my uncle is a car salesman there. I also played all my golf at the Kimberley Golf Club. A lot of my friends parents worked at the mine and a lot people I golfed with work in the mines. Without this mine I would have never my girl. Her family moved to Cranbrook in the 1980's because her father got a job as a mine inspector for the local mines.

This community was founded on mining, at one point in time it was the largest nickel ore mine in the world. The town grew by attracting ex-professional hockey players to work in the mine and play for the local senior hockey team, the Kimberley Dynamiters. And, in the 1930's before there was a national hockey team, the Dynamiters were the top non-professional team in Canada and won the gold medal for Canada at the ice hockey world championships. While the mine has been scaled back over the past 10 years, it is still a major foundation of this community. As such, disaster that occurred yesterday has hit quite close to home...let me explain.

It started when an environmental consultant, who had been missing for a day, was discovered yesterday morning near the old mine's water-sampling shed, where company Teck Cominco treats the mine's still-contaminated water. These water treament plants are on the other side of the river from my family's farm, less than 5 km from my house. The water was dumped into the St Marys River, and my parents wouldn't let us swim drink any of it for good cause. It is however one of the best fly fishing rivers in the world.

When a employee found the body, he called an ambulance and entered the shed in what appears to be an attempt to save the consultant. Soon, he too was killed by what is believed to be hydrogen sulphide fumes. When the ambulance attendants arrived a few minutes later, they also died trying to rescue the mine workers from these fumes. One of those individuals was a father of my friend.

To say the least this has been a rough day and has quit quite close to home. I feel for the Newcombe family whose family was part of this close community. Mr. Newcombe's son was supposed to be married on Saturday, and the night before Mr. Newcombe's death, his family and friends had a celebratory barbecue at his house. Mr. Newcombe was also a curling coach. Last year, he led a team of four Cranbrook women to the playoffs at British Columbia's Scott Tournament of Hearts.

While I am a long way from home right now, and haven't talked to many of them in a while, my thoughts and prayers are with them in this time of need.